


in the ole backwoods

by dressruffles



Series: femmexo bingo fills [6]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - High School, Gen, Summer Camp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-04-04
Packaged: 2018-05-31 02:19:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6451579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dressruffles/pseuds/dressruffles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>of course she gets the worst roommate.  [summer camp au.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	in the ole backwoods

**Author's Note:**

> this is chinguline shenanigans, mostly. almost rated teen for minor-ish delinquency, like teenage smoking...um and neon bras and bold make up. uh almost rated teen for femme!baekhyun actually, now that I think about it. 
> 
> ((reposted from lj.))

Kyungsoo of course gets saddled with the roommate who doesn't like to be alone. The entire summer has been Kyungsoo burdened with dealing with Lu Han, who chats practically every second of the day, laughs too loud, and is determined for the two of them to interact with one another as 'roomies' every moment they are alone together. It's driving Kyungsoo up a wall. Because at least with Chanyeol -- who she knows from back home, who is her freaking _next door neighbor_ \-- and her similar disposition, Kyungsoo can just punch her in the boob when she gets too absurd. With Lu Han, things are a little more delicate in that they don't know each well enough for Kyungsoo to be making physical assaults onto her person.

So one night, just to avoid the usual nightly tag along around the dorm and get some room to breathe, Kyungsoo lets Chanyeol's little group of delinquent friends convince her to sneak out after camp wide curfew to hang out in the backwoods. They're 'delinquent' because Baekhyun smokes and wears neon color bras and constantly has on seductive makeup; even now at near-midnight her smoky, glittery eye shadow is sparkling in the dim light of their pilfered camping lantern.

Jongdae's not necessarily 'bad' in the same sense, she just holds herself very self-assuredly and doesn't take shit from anyone, laughs in the face of boys who leer at her muscular thighs that are always showing from under her short-shorts and is willing to take up anyone's dare or challenge with no regards to how it might make her look. Kyungsoo likes that, but Jongdae also doesn't take shit from _rules_ either, and that's the kicker. She's the reason they started ignoring curfew in the first place, the three of them sneaking out every night since last week. It's a six week camp, and they've only just started week three.

Kyungsoo isn't entirely sure how she's brought up the topic of Lu Han -- maybe it has something to do with Baekhyun bringing up how she managed to goose Chanyeol in the showers this morning and Chanyeol threatening to get her back tenfold.

"Ladies please," Jongdae says rolling her eyes and then winking conspiratorially at Kyungsoo. "Some of us aren't running the world's more painfully unaware but completely transparent flirt campaign with our roommates."

"Please kill me promptly if I ever say I want to bone this gangly, sports-obsessed, waste of space," Baekhyun says pleasantly wiggling her manicured fingers in Chanyeol's face. "Because that's a sign that something has gone terribly wrong and it's the start of the end of times." Chanyeol bites at her fingers and only narrowly misses.

Meanwhile Kyungsoo snorts at the idea of having anything nearing affection for Lu Han. "I'll say."

Chanyeol looks betrayed and Baekhyun delighted -- and Jongdae intrigued -- so Kyungsoo rushes to clarify. "About flirting with my roommate. She bugs me."

Baekhyun looks increasingly more delighted. "Oh? Is she an asshole or something? Spill."

Chanyeol just shrugs when Kyungsoo looks to her for help. So Kyungsoo heaves a sigh and begrudgingly explains it: that Lu Han follows her around the main suite after they aren't allowed to roam outside an hour before curfew, how Lu Han trails after her in the bathroom, brushing her teeth and washing her face and even showering in the adjoining stall at the same time as Kyungsoo, how Lu Han tries to talk to Kyungsoo after lights out until Lu Han falls asleep first -- which is messing with Kyungsoo's usual sleep schedule of listening to music and for ten minutes and then promptly passing out.

"Like, I get that a lot of it is just her personality, but she's pretty clingy when it's just us." _And we're not friends_ Kyungsoo doesn't say.

Chanyeol, who has heard it all before, shrugs again. "I keep telling you to say something."

Kyungsoo's tried being subtle, which hasn't worked, but saying something like 'stop smothering me with your attempts to forge a relationship that's only going to last for these next couple of weeks' sounds like asking for a fight.

"Maybe she does actually have a crush on you?" Baekhyun offers. "I don't know, maybe she's for real trying to flirt? And -- yeah, if so you'd be best off saying something and letting her down easy -- "

Kyungsoo feels kind of annoyed for some reason she can't quite place as she waves Baekhyun off. "It's not a crush, it's not that kind of vibe -- and even if it was, _that_ I could deal with instead of it just being Lu Han's entire personality I can't deal with -- "

Jongdae, who's been pretty quiet this whole time with a contemplative expression and little other indication that she's interested in this topic of Kyungsoo's prickliness towards her roommate, suddenly perks up. "Ah, Lu Han! I totally know her, I thought this chick sounded kind of familiar."

When Kyungsoo looks at Jongdae with a questioning glance, she elaborates. "Dyed blonde hair, huge eyes, clingy as hell, and laughs like a cartoon character, right?"

Kyungsoo eyes Jongdae, confused. "Yeah. What, do you do the same club activities as her here?"

Jongdae waves a hand, then reaches to scratch at a mosquito bite on her thigh. "No, I haven't seen her all summer -- didn't even know she was here too. We go to the same private school and -- " Jongdae's demeanor dampens slightly. "...Oh."

Kyungsoo feels a strange prickle of apprehension. "What?"

Jongdae shrugs. "Uh...okay just, at school she clings like a koala to her roommate there too, right? And I mean to the point of half the school thinking they're dating, rampant rumors, some conservative parents not wanting their kids to interact with them or room with either of them on overnight trips, the whole shebang." 

Jongdae's moved on to another mosquito bite, this one on her arm right above her elbow. "And it's like, yeah we're a liberal arts school but it's making their lives more complicated. And I know for a fact they're just really close friends, so I asked Minseok -- the roommate -- you know, what's up. Why are you letting everyone talk and why is Lu Han always touching you and sleeping in your bed with you if you're not dating, you know?"

Jongdae pauses for a really long moment, and Kyungsoo finds herself waiting with bated breath for Jongdae's next words.

"Well?" Chanyeol whispers, sounding just like how Kyungsoo feels.

"Finish the story," Baekhyun hisses out, eyes just as wide as Chanyeol's.

Jongdae looks to Kyungsoo, who looks back, expression purposely neutral as she waits. Then Jongdae sighs, and her hand falls to her side.

"Minseok told me to look something up about Lu Han. It's totally public access, on the internet, super easy search words and everything -- you'd just never think to look. About. About Lu Han's family."

"Jongdae," Kyungsoo says when Jongdae pauses again, because now Kyungsoo needs to know. "What is it about Lu Han's family?"

Jongdae breaks the eye contact first, looking off into the distance as though she's searching for the right words out there in the woods. "I'm not clear on all the details," she finally says quietly. "But basically one night a few years back a dude got in their house and murdered both her parents. It was brutal, apparently."

Chanyeol makes a weird strangled noise and Baekhyun audibly sucks in a quick breath. Kyungsoo feels weird, but also like something important is sliding into place -- like a piece of a puzzle she didn't know she was missing. That would explain the clinginess somewhat.

Jongdae crosses her arms and sighs. "Yep, and basically, when I came back to Minseok about it, she told me that Lu Han sort of has a thing about being alone, especially at night." Jongdae smirks slightly and looks up at the starry sky. "I mean, though me and Minseok do both think some if that _is_ just her personality, like you were saying."

Kyungsoo squirms a little, because it feels weird to find out things this sort of grand behind someone’s back almost. "So like..." Kyungsoo finds herself saying awkwardly. "What? I should tiptoe around her and make sure she doesn't have a traumatic flashback or something?"

"Is she that unstable?" Baekhyun asks incredulously. 

Jongdae rolls her eyes as she looks back at the rest of them, a defiant glint in her eyes. "Well first of all, don't spread this around camp or else. Second of all, _no_ she's super well-adjusted. It's just...I don't know, maybe a reason behind maybe the weirder stuff she does."

Kyungsoo still doesn't know about this whole...thing. It makes her feel weirdly displaced. Maybe that shows on her face, because Jongdae smiles a little and crosses her arms behind her head.

"Hey," she says lightly. "I'm not saying you _have_ to like Lu Han or take her hands-on tendencies without complaining. She's not really delicate or anything."

Kyungsoo rolls her eyes, more defensive than anything. "I'm not going to be a huge jerk about it." Well, beyond this whole 'talking about Lu Han behind her back' thing -- which is kind of leaving an unsavory taste in Kyungsoo's mouth. "Look, can we stop talking about all of this? I'm over it."

"Yeah, right," Baekhyun mumbles. Chanyeol shushes her, and Kyungsoo doesn't even spare them a glance.

Jongdae shrugs. "I'm totally for a new topic. But yeah, just, you really probably should say something to Lu Han to figure these next few weeks out."

+++

When Kyungsoo gets back to their room, Lu Han is swaddled up in her covers, completely hidden underneath them -- and it sounds like she's playing Bejeweled on her phone with the sound turned all the way up.

When Kyungsoo quietly shuts the door behind her while wondering if maybe this is Lu Han's actual usual nighttime routine (wondering if maybe Lu Han has been, in her own way, being considerate), something compels her to says, "Hey, I'm back."

Lu Han shrieks and, popping her head from under the covers in record speed, and chucks her phone in Kyungsoo's general direction.

It clatters and skids to a stop at Kyungsoo's feet. "Oh," Lu Han says, in her usual lilting and cavalier tone once the moment settles. "It's you."

"Yeah, just me," Kyungsoo says, bending down to pick up Lu Han's phone. She isn't sure what she expected from Lu Han, who apparently doesn't like to be alone at night _being_ left alone at night, but there's a whole lot less panicking and shortness of breath and shakiness than Kyungsoo imagined there'd be.

Lu Han, in fact, just shrugs, seeming mostly unperturbed after the initial shock, and says steadily, "Yeah, thought you might be a counselor or something at first. I'm horrible at going to bed when I'm supposed to."

Yeah, plenty of late nights of Lu Han talking her ear off have helped Kyungsoo figure that out already. Kyungsoo pads over to Lu Han's bed and hands her back her phone, the screen light showing how Lu Han offers Kyungsoo a small smile at the gesture. Kyungsoo maybe returns it with a wary and tiny smile of her own. 

Kyungsoo doesn't know where the boundaries lie. Doesn't know if she's supposed to tell Lu Han what she knows, just to even the playing field of their interactions. Lu Han sits up, blankets falling away from her and off her shoulders, her Manchester United sleep shirt bunched up under her arms.

"Uh," Lu Han says, then offers a slightly wider smile, right before her cell phone backlight shuts off and sends them both into relative darkness. "So, how was your outing?"

Kyungsoo smells like smoke because Baekhyun's an asshole who made a game out of lighting a cigarette and keeping it lit in a horrible version of keep away, despite Jongdae and Kyungsoo's best attempts to swat it out of her hands and grind it out in the dirt. Chanyeol had laughed the whole time, completely useless. 

But Kyungsoo just shrugs. "Alright. How...was your day?"

Lu Han stills very noticeably, even in the dark of night. This is probably the first time Kyungsoo has reached out in turn to ask about Lu Han. Usually Lu Han is leading the conversation and Kyungsoo is enduring it with sharp, abrupt replies. "Uh? Nice?"

Kyungsoo kind of figures this is getting too weird, so she shrugs again -- belatedly realizes that Lu Han probably can't make that out too well -- and turns to return to her side of the room. "Okay. I guess...see you in the morning."

Lu Han's shifting in her bed, probably turning more towards Kyungsoo to watch her climb into bed. "Are you okay?" Lu Han asks. "Did something happen?"

Kyungsoo sets her glasses on the bedside table and unbuns her hair before laying down on her back. See? It's weird, changing up the basis of their usual interactions. "No, I'm fine. Why?"

Lu Han laughs a little quietly and lays down as well, with an audible _oompf_ sound. "You just seem...kind of more open that you usually let me see you. It's cool though, it doesn't have to mean anything, I guess." Lu Han laughs again and then sighs. It sounds content -- relieved, maybe (but then again, maybe Kyungsoo is reading too much into things). "But it's nice, to have you ask me stuff sometimes. Maybe throw me another bone in the next coming weeks, huh?" She laughs quietly, to let Kyungsoo know that she's joking.

But Kyungsoo stares up at her ceiling and wonders if she even had tried with Lu Han, with getting along with her, before now. Maybe she just immediately wrote her off and let the whole thing exacerbate itself. 

"It's just," Kyungsoo decides to say, feeling honest and stripped bare for once, and _ugh_ she hates it when Chanyeol is actually _right_ about something. She gets smug for days and it's unbearable. "Sometimes you're a little much for me. Maybe...maybe try to let a silence go for more than five minutes, if you're going to follow me around the dorm, you know?"

Lu Han hums, taking the criticism in stride. "Ah yeah, I guess I do talk a lot. My roommate at school just starts ignoring me sometimes, but mostly she's a good sport -- " She sits up abruptly. "You know, you and Minseok would totally get along! Haha, seriously, I think she'd love you. You're kind of adorable."

Kyungsoo blinks up at the ceiling now, and seriously wonders if Lu Han was ever half as bad as Kyungsoo had made her out to be in her head. She doesn't think any of this is from newly found pity or anything -- it's just, maybe Kyungsoo just needed to see half a reason to give her an actual chance. "Um."

Lu Han yawns and lays back down. "But yeah, if it'll make you more comfortable, I can try and talk less. Just let me know when I'm bothering you, and I'll tone it down." Lu Han yawns again, and Kyungsoo kind of feels terrible for the past two weeks.

"Sorry," Kyungsoo says miserably. "I've really been a standoffish asshole. It's kind of my most well-known trait back home."

Lu Han snorts. "Hey, no hard feelings. I like to tackle the challenges in life, and you've actually been great." Lu Han sounds like she's grinning. "Plus, you totally have been putting up with me. So I like you, Do Kyungsoo."

Kyungsoo doesn't know what to say to that, or how to explain the gravity of her transgressions -- because they're all in _how_ mean and judgmental Kyungsoo's been in her head. God, maybe this is why her mom sent her to sleepaway camp. Not everyone is Chanyeol, and not everyone will be so willing to put up with her quiet seething anger towards most of the world. Lu Han's willing, apparently, but it doesn't mean Kyungsoo should direct it at her anyway.

Lu Han sighs again, and it sounds sleepy this time. It is nearing around two in the morning, and Kyungsoo is tired herself. "Cool, well," Lu Han says around another yawn, a big one this time. "I will catch you in the morning then. Goodnight."

As Lu Han turns over and settles in for the night, Kyungsoo stares at her ceiling for a moment longer before closing her eyes. Maybe in the morning she'll start actually trying to give friendship with Lu Han a try.


End file.
